Background on UN Convention of Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

Friday Feb 29, 2008 Border greed could result in armed conflict, analyst warns
The fast-warming Arctic's vast economic potential makes it increasingly prone to smuggling, perilous...
The fast-warming Arctic's vast economic potential makes it increasingly prone to smuggling, perilous polar tourism, environmental catastrophes and even armed conflict unless Canada and the U.S. lead efforts to bring order to the region, according to a new analysis.

Tuesday 26 February 2008 WORLD DEPOSITS SEED IN NORWAY
The Globe fronts and CTV News goes inside with Norway’s efforts to save the world from starvation in the event of a catastrophic disaster. Dug deep into arctic permafrost, the so-called “doomsday vault” will house millions of seed samples from around the world, ensuring that vital crops can be re-planted in the event that they are wiped out by war, global warming, natural disasters, or anything else doomsayers can dream up. Located on a frozen archipelago called Svalbard, about one thousand kilometres from the North Pole, the vault is built to resist everything from an earthquake to a nuclear bomb. It cost Norway’s government $9.1 billion, but they are allowing other countries to deposit seeds for free and to withdraw them when the need arises. The Globe reports that the Norwegian bank comes at a time when other seed depositories met with disaster; seed banks in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, have been looted in the ongoing wars. For its part, Canada will be making a large deposit at the bank, sending six thousand samples from ninety different species. Despite the frigid temperatures outside, the vault still needs air conditioning to keep the seeds cold enough. At optimal conditions, the seeds will remain resident in the vault for decades or even centuries, depending on the variety. At the remote location, the only threat to the seeds’ security would seem to be the archipelago’s three thousand polar bears. They will be kept at bay by a solitary rifle-wielding guard.

Thursday 21 February 2008 UNDATED: EXPERTS URGE U.S.-CANADA ARCTIC CO-OPERATION
A group of 13 American and Canadian academics and former diplomats have drawn up a report in which they recommend that both their countries stop arguments about who owns the Northwest Passage and jointly manage Arctic waters. The group agreed that the question of Arctic sovereignty is a challenge for both sides, Canada regarding the region as Canadian and the U.S. not wanting its activities in the North challenged for fear it would set a bad legal precedent for straits now considered international. Former U.S. ambassador to Canada Paul Celluci says that while both sides have strong arguments, it's no reason for them not to focus on immediate concerns like melting ice. Mr. Celluci also notes that it's time to plan for the shipping volume that may sail the North in 15 or 20 years. The experts have sent a list of nine recommendations to both governments, including the drafting of rules to governing the stopping of ships and on environmental, navigation and safety standards. They also call on both nations to co-operate on immigration, search and rescue and surveillance.

Friday 15 February 2008 Canada, U.S. on Arctic collision course
A leading U.S. government scientist says his country...

Wednesday Feb 13, 2008 U.S. stakes claim in Arctic sea A U.S. government scientist says his country and Canada are on a collision course over seabed rights.

Thursday 31 January 2008 Elusive wolves caught on camera
Remarkable new footage of Canada's Arctic wolves has been caught on camera by a BBC crew.

Monday Jan 21, 2008 Norwegian PM alarmed after Antarctic visit
Alarm bells are ringing about risks of a quickening thaw of Antarctica that would drive up world sea...

Tuesday 15 January 2008 OTTAWA: INUIT OPPOSE MOVE TO PROTECT POLAR BEARS
Leaders of Canada's Arctic native people, the Inuit, have denounced U.S. environmentalists for trying to push the United States into declaring the polar bear an endangered species. The environmentalists want to sue the U.S. government for failing to make such a declaration. Canada's Inuit disagree, saying that such a declaration will deter U.S. hunters who spend millions of dollars annually for the right to shoot the animals. Mary Simon, president of the Inuit Tapirisit, says that environmentalists are using polar bears as an excuse to attack the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush over its position on climate change. Scientists estimate that the world's polar bear population is around twenty-five thousand. Two-thirds of the animals live in Canada.

2007

Thursday 27 December 2007 OTTAWA: ARCTIC SURVEILLANCE COULD BE IN PLACE BY SUMMER
The Canadian military is going ahead with a four-year project involving an experimental surveillance system in the Arctic. The defence department is hoping to deploy underwater sensors by the summer. Reports say the military is looking for a firm to build the underwater part of the system, a 10-kilometre cable with sensors attached. Canada had a deal with the US for an underwater surveillance system in the 1990's, but the deal fell through because of the expense of the $100-million project. As part of its plan to defend Canadian sovereignty in the North, the government has already launched Radarsat-2, a satellite to track ships in the Arctic.

Thursday 27 December 2007 OTTAWA: ARCTIC SURVEILLANCE COULD BE IN PLACE BY SUMMER
The Canadian military is going ahead with a four-year project involving an experimental surveillance system in the Arctic. The defence department is hoping to deploy underwater sensors by the summer. Reports say the military is looking for a firm to build the underwater part of the system, a 10-kilometre cable with sensors attached. Canada had a deal with the US for an underwater surveillance system in the 1990's, but the deal fell through because of the expense of the $100-million project. As part of its plan to defend Canadian sovereignty in the North, the government has already launched Radarsat-2, a satellite to track ships in the Arctic.

Monday 10 December 2007 OTTAWA: OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER PROPOSES PLAN TO PROTECT ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY
Canada's opposition Liberal Party leader, Stephane Dion, wants the Conservative Party government to do more to stake out Canada's sovereignty in the north. During a three-day visit to the Arctic region, Mr. Dion said that a good start would be stationing search-and-rescue planes at strategic locations. He pledged that if elected, a Liberal Party government would station two planes in Yellowknife and two in Iqaluit to foster a sense that Canada cares about people who live in the North. Mr. Dion will highlight his experiences through the Arctic when he meets later this week with international delegates at the climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia.

Sunday 18 November 2007 The new Arctic cold war has good video
Ed Struzik, this year’s Atkinson Fellow, travelled the Arctic to explore how Canadians can adapt to and even exploit a precarious return to warmer times in the remote region.

Wednesday 31 October 2007 RUSSIA
The natural resources minister, Yuri Trutnev, says Russia will file a claim to ownership of vast areas of the mineral wealth of the Arctic seabed. Mr. Trutnev says his country is entitled to them because the area is an extension of Russia's Siberian continental shelf. The minister says Russia cannot start exploiting the riches without the asset of the UN an other countries. Russia is in competition with Canada, the U.S. Denmark and Norway to exploit the Arctic's oil, natural gas and precious metals that are becoming easier to exploit as a result of global warming. Under the UN Law of the Sea treaty, a nation with an Arctic coastline that wants to stake a claim to a greater share of the Arctic must file a claim with the world body's Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

Tuesday 23 October 2007 HALIFAX: GOVT. TO MONITOR NORTH WITH SENSORS
The federal government has announced it will implant remote sensors over a four-year period both under Arctic ice and on top of it to help Canada monitor activity in the region. The Northern Watch project will collect information about activity in the limited number of ocean passages through which all marine traffic must pass. Details of the project were revealed at the first annual Northern Watch Conference and Exposition on the Arctic. Project leader Klaus Kollenberg told an audience that it's vital to know what happening in the region because Canada's security, safety, economy and environment depend on it. Brig.-Gen. Chris Whitecross, the top military officer in the Arctic, says the job of effective monitoring must be an effort involving the military and environmental and cultural officials. The Conservative government has made assertion of Canada's sovereignty in the north a priority, promising more patrol boats, aerial surveillance and mapping of the seabed.

Arctic Cold War - Canada
Sep 2007 As the scramble for Arctic resources intensifies, Canada is stepping up its military presence in the region. It's determined to protect its national sovereignty. "We will not compromise the defence of Canadian territory", vows Prime Minster Stephen Harper, announcing plans for more polar patrol ships. As the Arctic warms up; "major corporations are waking up to the fact there is going to be tremendous economic opportunity", explains Prof Huebert. Canada, Russia, Denmark and Norway all have claims to the Arctic seabed, where vast mineral reserves are thought to lie. There's concern that this scramble for resources could spiral out of control. "The worst case scenario is one of a regional area where hostilities are the norm and co-operation the exception", warns Huebert. The other main dispute is the legal status of the North West passage, which could dramatically shorten shipping times between Europe and Asia. "Canada considers all of the waters within the Canadian arctic archipelago to be internal waters", explains Prof Donat Pharand. But other countries see the passage as an international strait. "This is a dispute between Canada and the world", claims US Ambassador David Wilkins. A summit is planned for next year to discuss the future of the region.

Thursday 18 October 2007 CHURCHILL: PORT RECEIVE FIRST RUSSIAN EXPORT SHIPMENT
For the first time, a Russian freighter has arrived in the port of Churchill on the coast of Hudson's Bay in northeastern Manitoba. The vessel arrived conveying a load of fertilizer destined for western farmers, the first ocean shipment from Russia to Churchill. The province's minister of intergovernmental affairs, Steve Ashton, says: "Linking Asian and North American trade markets through Churchill is an idea whose time has come..." The farmers' group that ordered the fertilizer says it saved $40 a tonne a shipping costs. The port is mostly used for grain shipments by the Canadian Wheat Board but port officials are hoping to attract other business as well. Earlier this month, the prime minister, Mr. Harper, visited Churchill and announced millions of dollars to upgrade the port and the railway that links it to The Pas, northwest of Winnipeg.

Wednesday Oct 10, 2007 Pays $1.5B for Arctic operator Miramar
Newmont Mining Corp. is the latest major miner to make a bet on the Canadian Arctic, striking a $1.5-billion deal to buy Miramar Mining Corp. and highlighting...

Monday 08 October 2007 rci UNITED STATES
Thousands of walrus have appeared on Alaska's northwest coast in what conservationists are calling a dramatic consequence of global warming melting the Arctic sea ice. Alaska's walrus, especially breeding females, are usually found on the Arctic ice pack in summer and fall. But the lowest summer ice cap on record put sea ice far north of the outer continental shelf, the shallow, life-rich shelf of ocean bottom in the Bering and Chukchi seas. Walrus feed on clams, snails and other bottom dwellers. Given the choice between an ice platform over water beyond their 190-metre diving range or gathering spots on shore, thousands of walrus picked Alaska's rocky beaches. The immediate concern of new, massive walrus groups for the US Fish and Wildlife Service is danger to the animals from stampedes. Panic caused by a low-flying airplane, a boat or an approaching polar bear can send a herd rushing to the sea. Young animals can be crushed by adults weighing 900 kilograms or more.

Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2007
Fight for the Top of the World
At the end of August, a wisp of flame suddenly appeared in the Arctic twilight over the Barents Sea, bathing the low clouds over the Norwegian port of Hammerfest in a spectral orange glow. With a tremendous roar, the flame bloomed over the windswept ocean and craggy gray rocks, competing for an instant with the Arctic summer's never-setting sun. The first flare-off of natural gas from the Snohvit (Snow White in Norwegian) gas field, some 90 miles (145 km) offshore, was a beacon of promise: After 25 years of false starts, planning and construction, the first Arctic industrial oil-and-gas operation outside of Alaska was up and running. Norway's state-owned petroleum firm Statoil could finally exploit once unreachable reserves, expected to deliver an estimated $1.4 billion worth of liquefied natural gas each year for the next 25 years. Sep. 19, 2007 | By James Graff ...riches beneath the surface have been revived. But who will win the race for the Arctic 3016 words

Saturday 06 October 2007 Harper stresses 'use it or lose it' as he earmarks more funds for North
... Harper unveiled the final 26 projects selected by the federal government as part of its $150-million commitment to International Polar Year.
"Scientific inquiry and development are absolutely essential to Canada's defence of its North, as they enhance our knowledge of, and presence in, the region," Harper said in a statement released by his office. "Like I've said so many times before, use it or lose it is the first principle of sovereignty."

Thursday 27 September 2007 OTTAWA: NDP WANTS NEW APPROACH TO ARCTIC
Canada's federal opposition New Democratic Party is calling for a parliamentary debate on development in the Arctic. In a new policy paper released today, the NDP suggests Canada can realize its control over the Northwest Passage using civilian agencies such as the Coast Guard as well as diplomatic channels, instead of through military means. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already announced the location of a new military deep-water port and the purchase of new Arctic patrol vessels to monitor and police the nearby waters.

Wednesday 26 September 2007 Seeds saved in Norway's doomsday vault Cavern carved out of Arctic mountain to store supply of world's crop seeds in case of genetic disaster

Saturday 15 September 2007 Canada's true north, strong and free – and wild
There is a simple and elegant way for Canada to assert sovereignty over the Northwest Passage and the Arctic Ocean. So why isn't Prime Minister Stephen Harper talking about it? The solution is to create a network of marine protected areas across the Arctic. Call them water parks — untouched areas where narwhals, polar bears, walruses, Arctic cod and seabirds can watch their seascape melt. These mysterious, cold ecosystems, previously locked under ice, are just now revealing their secrets.

Friday 14 September 2007 COPENHAGEN: DENMARK INVITES CANADA TO ARCTIC CONFERENCE
The government of Denmark has invited countries like itself with Arctic sovereignty claims to a conference to discuss them. The Danish foreign minister, Per Stig Moeller, says he and Greenland Premier Hans Enoksen, sent invitations to the foreign ministers of Canada, the U.S., Norway and Russia. A Danish newspaper says the proposed conference would take place in Greenland May 27-29. All five countries have conflicting claims to territorial sovereignty in the Arctic. At stake is the parties' ability to define the extent of their continental shelf under the terms of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Last month, Russia sent submarines to plant a Russian flag under the ice of the North Pole, and Canada announced it will build an army training centre and a deep-water port in the Arctic. The melting of Arctic ice could improve access to the region's natural resources and open new shipping lanes.

Wednesday 12 September 2007 OTTAWA: CANADA RELIES ON DANES, AMERICANS TO SHORE UP ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY CLAIM
The Canadian Press reports that Canada is relying on Denmark and the U.S. for data to support Canada's claim to sovereignty in the Arctic. Those two countries are in fact competitors, Denmark contesting Canada's claim to Hans Island and the U.S. claiming that the Northwest Passage is an international waterway. Documents obtained by CP show that as a cost-saving measure, Canada and Denmark will mount a joint expedition to chart the area north of Ellesmere Island and Canada will use declassified American documents containing data from mapping expeditions carried out by American nuclear submarines in the 1990s. Canada's first icebreaking map survey by the Louis St.-Laurent began only last week. Canada needs the data to meet a 2013 deadline to stake claims under a UN to allow countries to extend their coastal economic zones. The Canadian prime minister, Mr. Harper, has made the reinforcement of Arctic sovereignty one of his government's priorities

Saturday 01 September 2007 YELLOWKNIFE: NDP LEADER COMPLETES NORTHERN TOUR
The leader of the federal New Democratic Party, Jack Layton, has ended a four-day Arctic tour which took him to the territories of Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Speaking in Yellowknife, NWT, Mr. Layton said Prime Minister Stephen Harper is taking the wrong approach in asserting Canada's northern sovereignty by emphasizing military aspects of it, when the best claim to Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic is the fact that Inuit communities have inhabited it for thousands of years. The NDP leader also says he'll be pushing for a resource-revenue for the territories when Parliament resumes. Mr. Layton says vast amounts of dollars are flowing from revenue from northern resources into Ottawa's coffers, when the people of the north are suffering high living costs and difficult circumstances.

Sunday 26 August 2007 New Democrats take aim in Quebec, tackle Arctic and Afghanistan at policy retreat
OTTAWA -- Arctic sovereignty and a push to withdraw Canada's troops from their combat mission in Afghanistan are among the issues at the top of the agenda for the New Democrats as they kick off a caucus retreat in Montreal on the eve of three federal by-elections, says NDP leader Jack Layton.

Monday 20 August 2007 OTTAWA: FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR RESPECTS CANADA'S ARCTIC CLAIMS
Contradicting his government, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, called on his country on Sunday to recognize Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic Northwest Passage. Mr. Cellucci said in a television interview that he made the the same recommendation while he was ambassador. The U.S. government claims that the Northwest Passage lies in international waters. As Arctic ice melts under the impact of global warming, the Northwest Passage becomes a valuable alternative route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Cellucci said that acknowledging Canada's claim would make it easier for Canada's navy to patrol the area and to monitor foreign shipping. Canada recently announced that it will buy several more ships for northern duty and will open an Arctic seaport.

Saturday, August 18 '25 years of Arctic ice left'
One expert's view after scientists confirm the cover is the smallest ever recorded - with more melting to come

Sunday 19 August 2007 IQUALUIT: BIGGEST ARCTIC EXERCISES END
Canadian forces have concluded their largest Arctic exercises ever. Some 600 Canadian Forces personnel, plus members of the Coast Guard, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police were involved in Operation Nanook around Baffin Island and Hudson Strait. The exercise was designed to assert Canadian sovereignty in the region. Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced last week that Canada would build a new army training centre and a deepwater port in the Arctic. Several countries, including the United States, Russia and Denmark, claim sovereignty in the region which has potential oil and gas reserves.

Tuesday 14 August 2007 RESOLUTE BAY: CANADA ESTABLISHES FACTS TO SUPPORT NORTHERN SOVEREIGNTY
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced that an army training base for winter fighting will be created at Resolute Bay. The tiny community bestrides the northernmost point of the Arctic Northwest Passage. Mr. Harper also announced that a deepsea port will be built for navy and civilian purposes on the northern tip of Baffin Island in the eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut. Mr. Harper says the establishment of both facilities are meant to support Canada's claim of sovereignty over the Northwest Passage. The prime minister also says that the 4,100-member Canadian Ranger force of armed natives will be increased by 900. Canada's claim is contested by the U.S., Denmark, Russia and the EU. Last week, Russian scientists lowered a Russian flag in waters beneath the North Pole to assert its own claim. The Arctic is thought to contain huge deposits of oil and other resources. The Northwest Passage is blocked during most of the year by ice, but global warming has opened up the possibility of increased navigation and resource exploitation.

Tuesday 14 August 2007 WASHINGTON: U.S. TOO MOUNTS ARCTIC EXPEDITION
The U.S. Coast Guard will send a cutter on a four-week Arctic mapping expedition to determine whether an area north of Alaska can be considered U.S. territory. The announcement follows a Russian mission which planted a flag on the seabed under the North Pole as a symbol of sovereignty and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the creation of a deepsea port in what Canada considers its territory. One of the American scientists who will make the voyage says it had been planned for three years and thus isn't a reaction. Under the UN Law of the Sea treaty, coastal states in the North can claim some part of its mineral wealth if certain geological conditions are met. The U.S. isn't a party to the treaty, although the administration of President George W. Bush has asked the Senate to join it.

Saturday 11 August 2007 The untold story: I was the cool Pole cat who claimed the Arctic for Canada
JOSH FREED, Freelance
ATTENTION MOSCOW! Please withdraw your capitalist-imperialist plans to claim ownership over the North Pole - just because your submarine touched down there two weeks ago

Thursday 09 August 2007
In the spirit of environmentally-conscious gestures, Prime Minister Stephen Harper just kicked off a three-day Arctic sovereignty tour yesterday by announcing the expansion of Nahanni National Park. The National, CTV News, the Star and the Citizen go inside with Harper’s proud moment as he announced that the government would add 5,400 square kilometres of land to the UN-proclaimed world heritage site, doubling its current size and preventing further development. The reserve, in the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories, includes such natural wonders as mineral hot springs, towering waterfalls and deep, mist-shrouded canyons. Even Harper’s fiercest critics were moved by the gesture; CTV News shows Jack Layton praising Harper’s move, saying “we certainly welcome the steps that have been announced.” However, in an accompanying article, CTV reports that Layton issued a press release ultimately finding fault in Harper’s plan: “The Harper Conservatives have chosen an arbitrary portion of land rather than protecting the entire watershed,” he explains. Despite Layton’s argument, MediaScout tips its hat to the PM for taking a step in the right direction.

Wednesday 08 August 2007 Eric Posner, professor of law at the University of Chicago, concluded that the small print of international maritime agreements was likely to prove irrelevant in the Arctic. “Power, not international law, will settle the issue,” he said. “Russia’s expression of power is credible; Canada’s is not.” Russia goes for Pole at ice station Putin

FORT SIMPSON: ARCTIC NATIONAL PARK EXPANDS
Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, is adding more territory to one of the country's national parks. Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories will expand by more than 5,000 square kilometres. Mr. Harper made the announcement as he began a three-day tour of the far north. Mr. Harper is also expected to announce the location of a planned military deepwater port that would protect Canada's claims in the Arctic.

UNDATED: CANADA SHRUGS OFF RUSSIAN FLAG LOWERING
Canada and the United States are ignoring a recent submarine expedition that planted a Russian flag on the seabed under the North Pole. But the Russian scientist Artur Chilingarov, who led the flag planting initiative in the Arctic, says the region has always been Russian despite doubts expressed by other countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the expedition members at an audience with Mr. Chilingarov earlier this week. But Mr. Putin also said that Russia needed to discuss Arctic claims with other countries and international organizations. There are five nations with territory inside the Arctic Circle: Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States. There are vast energy reserves beneath the Arctic seabed.

Wednesday 08 August 2007 Russia to boost Arctic presence, plans new expedition
Russian explorers on Wednesday announced a new expedition to the Arctic for later in the year to boost Russia's presence there following a flag-laying stunt on the seabed under the North Pole.

Wednesday 08 August 2007 YELLOWKNIFE: PM STARTS ANOTHER ARCTIC TOUR
Meanwhile, Mr. Harper will be busy for three days in the Canadian North starting Wednesday. The Canadian Press reports that he and Environment Minister John Baird will announce in Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territories the expansion by thousands of square kilometres of Nahanni National Park Reserve. The prime minister also is expected to make some military announcements, and these could include the creation of a winter warfare school along the Northwest Passage, over which Canada's sovereignty is claimed but also contested by countries including the U.S. Because of planetary warming, the Northwest Passage could yield rich natural resources and became a major shipping lane. Mr. Harper is also apt to announce the location of a deepwater port. The prime minister's third visit to the North comes in the context of last week's lowering by Russian scientists of a Russian flag in waters beneath the North Pole as an assertion of sovereignty.

Tuesday 07 August 2007
Closer to home is the flurry of activity that has greeted the (as Peter MacKay would have it) 15th century-style land grab in the Arctic , which has aroused the new government of Canada from its torpor (on this subject) to such an extent that the Canadian military (600 strong) has just begun a 10-day "sovereignty operation" NANOOK 07 in the Arctic . Stephen Harper's trip this week to NWT and Nunavut has become a timely and news-worthy event [arrangements have even been made for a small media entourage to accompany him] with speculation that there will be announcements of "fresh spending and building initiatives to bolster Canada's territorial claims in the Arctic as he hopscotches across the North" [Harper to bolster Canada's territorial claims during Arctic visit]

Monday 06 August 2007 TORONTO: OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER URGING MORE GOVERNMENT ACTION IN ARCTIC
The leader of Canada's federal opposition New Democratic Party says that Canada's government is doing too little to protect its interests in the Arctic. Jack Layton made his comment in a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Mr. Harper prepares to visit several northern communities this week. Mr. Layton says that a troubling reality was revealed in the Arctic last Thursday when Russia planted a metallic flag on the seabed below the North Pole. Russia was looking to extend its territorial claims in an area that is thought to hold large oil and gas deposits. Russia and Canada are among five northern countries that are seeking to define the limits of their sovereignty in the Arctic under an international treaty. Mr. Layton says that the Arctic is central to Canada's identity. He's urging the government to recognize that the Arctic's greatest challenges are social, economic and environmental. The NDP leader criticized the government for buying several medium-sized Arctic patrol boats rather than three heavy icebreakers that could undertake multiple duties.

Monday 06 August 2007 Enough symbols: Time to deal on Arctic
Russia's dramatic dive to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean this week to drop off the Russian flag was exactly what Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay called it: a brazen, old-fashioned attempt to grab territory.

Saturday 04 August 2007 CHARLOTTETOWN: FM DISMISSES RUSSIAN ARCTIC CLAIM
Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay has dismissed the planting of a Russian flag beneath the North Pole as "posturing." Canada considers the territory its own. Mr. MacKay says the Russians are fooling themselves if they think that dropping a flag on the seabed can change that. A Russian scientific expedition to the North Pole dropped two mini-submarines four kilometres beneath the icecap to place the flag. Mr. MacKay says Canada established its claim a long time ago. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, for his part, says he doesn't exactly know what to make of the Russian move but says it proves the importance of Canada defending its sovereignty in the Arctic. Canada plans to spend $7.5 billion to build and to operate eight Arctic patrol boats to help protect its sovereignty in the north. The Russian expedition has announced some scientific goals but its chief purpose seems to be to improve Russia's claims to the oil and mineral wealth thought to be in the Arctic. The expedition is to find whether a 2,000-kilometre underground mountain range is a geological extension of Russia which could then claim it under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Denmark also hopes to prove that that same mountain range is an extension of its territory of Greenland.

Friday 03 August 2007 Russia and the Arctic Gold rush under the ice
RUSSIA’s foray into the Arctic is an audacious geopolitical adventure, as popular at home as it is troubling for outsiders. At stake are the region’s natural riches, until now frozen both in law and in nature. But global warming is making them look more accessible. They may include 10 billion tonnes of oil and gas deposits, tin, manganese, gold, nickel, lead, platinum and diamonds, plus fish and perhaps even lucrative freight routes. Exploiting them will be technically tricky, and is probably decades away. But as the ice melts, the row is hotting up about who owns what’s underneath it.

Thursday 02 August 2007
ISN’T RUSSIA BIG ENOUGH ALREADY?
CTV News and the Globe front, while the Star goes inside with Russia’s most recent move in the ongoing diplomatic chess match over Arctic sovereignty. Yesterday, a Russian icebreaker arrived at the North Pole after plowing through an unbroken sheet of multiyear ice in the Arctic Ocean, making way for two Russian mini-submarines. The subs are to become the first ships ever to descend to the seabed under the North Pole, where, at a depth of 13,200 feet, they will place a Russian flag. This symbolic gesture is the latest move in a longstanding debate over which country—or countries—has a legitimate claim to the oil-rich ground beneath the Arctic Ocean. Canada, Russia, the US, Greenland and Norway all claim sovereignty over the land, which is thought to hold roughly 10 billion tons of oil and gas deposits. The Globe reports that both Canada and Russia are preparing to make an official claim to the continental shelf by the end of 2013, according to their ratification of the UN Law of the Sea. However, even if Canada were to be officially granted sovereignty over the land, there’s not much that could be done with it: the Globe reports that of the five extreme-depth submarines in the world, two belong to Russia and none to Canada. Besides the brazen land-grab, Russian scientists aboard the subs also plan to gather geologic samples and study the unexplored plant and animal life of the Arctic.

26 Jul 2007.Canadian Armed Forces and the Inuit Arctic Rangers on patrol near Pangnertung, protecting Canada's northlands.imgs By Robert Galbraith more slides and web

Fri 20/07/2007 ICEBREAKER LAUNCHED ON UNPRECEDENTED MISSION
Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen will leave Quebec City on July 26 on a 15-month scientific mission in the Canadian Arctic. The Amundsen will explore several areas of the region including the northernmost point of its mission at 81 degrees of latitude in the Kane Basin and will sail through the Northwest Passage as well. One of the icebreaker's challenges will be to spend the entire winter in the Arctic without ever becoming immobilized by ice. Its scientific experiments include a study of Inuit health. The $18-million mission includes scientists from Canada and several other nations.

Sunday 15 July 2007 IQALUIT: OTTAWA'S ARCTIC APPROACH QUESTIONED
Several politicians in Canada's Arctic say the federal government's northern policies aren't broad enough. They were reacting to the announcement earlier in the week by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that six to eight patrol boats will be built at a cost of $7 billion, in part to assert Canada's territorial claims in the Arctic. The premier of the eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut, Paul Okalik, says he welcomes the military spending but thinks the government should trying to affirm Canadian sovereignty in the North by investing in the infrastructure needed by its residents. The government hasn't made a decision on a proposal to build a series of small-craft harbours in Nunavut that would benefit fishermen and tourism. The mayor of Iqaluit and the head of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, Elisapee Sheutiapik, says the government has a duty to invest in the territories because many of them were established precisely to affirm Canada's sovereignty. And the Member of Parliament for the Western Arctic, Dennis Bevington, says ownership means developing viable communities not just sailing at times through the Northwest Passage.

Sunday 15 July 2007 rci WINNIPEG: BIGGEST ARCTIC STUDY EVER LAUNCHED
Meanwhile, the Canadian government has announced it will spend $25 million for fund the largest study ever of the country's Arctic. Treasury Board Secretary Vic Toews says the research will provide vital data about climate change and will focus in particular on the gigantic cracks in the northern ice that create open bodies of water. The research will be part of Canada contribution to International Polar Year, an international research project into the Arctic and Antarctica.

Friday 13 July 2007 ESQUIMALT: PM CONFIRMS ARCTIC PORT Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has confirmed that his government will invest in new patrol boats and build a deepwater port to protect Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic. Mr. Harper says six to eight patrol boats are to be built to guard national waters, including the Northwest Passage. Several countries, particularly the U.S., don't recognize Canadian sovereignty over that body of water. Mr. Harper didn't say where the deepwater port will be located, but did say it will have both commercial and civilian uses. The prime minister says that if Canada doesn't use its northern territories, it will be fated to lose them.

Thursday 05 July 2007 rci CLIMATE CHANGE DESICCATES ARCTIC LAKES
Two Canadian researchers report that global warming is drying up lakes in the Arctic. John Smol, a biology professor at Queen's University, and Marianne Douglas, the director of the Canadian Polar Institute of the University of Alberta, have gathered data on about 40 lakes on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. During the 1990s, scientists became alarmed that water levels in the lakes were sinking in the area near Greenland. The two researchers found in July 2006 that many of the lakes had completely dried up. The research was conducted during a record hot summer in that area of Canada.

Wednesday 04 July 2007 rci INTEREST IN ARCTIC DEEP-WATER PORT REVIVES
High world commodity prices have revived interest in a plan to build a deep-water port in Canada's Arctic. Kitikmeot Corp., an Inuit-owned group, filed a proposal to build such a facility in 2002 but little progress has been made toward that goal. Its president, Charlie Lyall, says however that high prices for minerals are reviving interest and that several mining firms are willing to help finance the project. The group wants to build a port, an airstrip and a 211-kilometre all-weather road leading south to some of the richest mineral territories in the country. The road would end near where seven mines are already operating, are under construction or in advanced stages of planning. The Sabina Silver firm owns a 47-million-tonne deposit of silver, zinc, lead, copper and gold at Hackett River, 75 kilometres from the proposed port. Its president Abraham Drost, says the road and port would be the only way to remove the ore from such deposits. A report in 2002 by the federal government predicted that the project would bring $925 million in investments to the eastern Arctic territory on Nunavut an create 1,400 direct and indirect jobs.

Saturday Jun 30, 2007 rci TORONTO: RUSSIA, CANADA COMPETE FOR ARCTIC TURF
The Toronto Star newspaper reports that Russia has claimed a huge swathe of Arctic territory that could also be claimed by Canada. The newspaper cites a Russian newspaper as reporting that Russian geologists have discovered that an underwater ridge links its northeastern landmass to the North Pole, thus giving Russia entitlement to the territory. The area could contain rich oil deposits. The Geological Survey of Canada says Canada is collecting similar data to back its own claims. The U.S., Denmark and Norway also have claims on disputed Arctic territory. So far, no country's territory is recognized as extending to the North Pole. Under the UN Law of the Sea Convention, nations are allowed a 200-nautical-mile zone from its shores. But that zone can be extended if a country can prove that the continental shelf in the zone is actually an extension of its landmass.

Tuesday 26 June 2007 OTTAWA: PM TO TOUR ARCTIC
Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper is planning a tour of the Canadian north this summer. Officials say it will be part a campaign to show Canada's intention to maintain sovereignty over its northern territories in the Arctic region. Canada's sovereignty in the region continues to be challenged by the U.S. and other countries. Mr. Harper is expected to make several stops and provide details on military projects that include icebreaking ships, a northern naval station and a training centre for winter combat.

In Shackletons Wake, With a Hot Tub Taking a break from her usual beat, the photographer Heidi Schumann discusses her trip on board a luxury cruise ship in Antarctica. June 6, 2007 - (NYT) - Travel - Interactive Feature

Thursday 07 June 2007 Snow and ice woes put heat on
Despite threat of missile-strength floods, ice-free Arctic summers and water shortages, leaders ignore message, report says

6 June rci OTTAWA: UN FEARS THE WORST ON ARCTIC CLIMATE
A panel of more than 70 UN climate experts has issued a report on global warming that contains dire predictions of climactic convulsions in the Canadian Arctic and elsewhere. The world body's "Global Outlook for Ice and Snow" reports that the Canadian Arctic, north-central Siberia and the Antarctic Peninsula have experienced the greatest temperature increases of any places on earth. The report predicts that Arctic temperatures will continue to rise throughout the century and that melting glaciers will cause sea levels to rise by as much as one metre, a development that will affect millions of people. The experts says that Arctic ice has disappeared at a rate of 8.9 per cent a decade for the last 30 years and that the Arctic Ocean will be mostly ice-free by 2100. The document says the situation will be worsened because land and seas without ice will absorb sunlight instead of reflecting it. The experts say that to reverse the disastrous trend, greenhouse gases must stop increasing and start decreasing no later than 15 to 25 years from the present. G8 summit & Arctic / more

Monday 14 May 2007 Ottawa proceeds with plan to build Arctic patrol ships
Six corvette-sized vessels expected to cost $300-million apiece
The patrol vessels, which are almost as large as the navy's frigates, are a step down from the armed Arctic icebreakers that the Conservatives promised in the last election campaign and will likely not be in service before 2015.
...The vessels, which will be capable of smashing through “fresh ice,” are expected to be based on the Royal Norwegian Navy's Svalbard class design, said a military source. That particular type vessel is armed with a 57-millimetre deck gun, missile-launching tubes and also has a helicopter pad.
..... In the end, the prohibitive $1-billion-per-vessel cost of armed icebreakers appears to have torpedoed the election promise. The navy was worried that such an ambitious program would seriously dent its well-laid plans to eventually replace its aging destroyers and frigates with a new single-class surface ship.
With global warming melting the northern icepack, many experts have predicted the Northwest Passage will become a commercial waterway within the next few decades.

And what about Canada's flap over the ecofraud? We loved the confrontation between David Suzuki and John Baird; for once Dr. Suzuki struck the perfect tone of disappointed mentor confronting his student's total failure to understand the subject. Climate change will again be on the menu, given the report from the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research that Arctic ice is melting much faster than previously predicted see Arctic Ice Melting Faster Than Forecast

Friday, 29 December 2006, Huge Arctic ice break discovered
Scientists have discovered that an enormous ice shelf broke off an island in the Canadian Arctic last year, in what could be sign of global warming.
It is said to be the largest break in 25 years, casting an ice floe with an area of 66 sq km (25 square miles).

Thursday, January 26, 2006 Harper brushes off U.S. criticism of Arctic plan
...David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said his government opposes Harper's proposed plan to deploy military icebreakers in the Arctic to detect interlopers and assert Canadian sovereignty over those waters. Tories plan to bolster Arctic defence

Tuesday 02 January 2007 MONTREAL: RESEARCHERS AND INUIT TO PARTICIPATE IN ARCTIC STUDY
Researchers from some 60 countries will try to better understand the Earth's poles in 2007. They will also study the effect of climate change as part of the first "International Polar Year" since the 1950s. The research will be marked by the collaboration with Inuit living in the Arctic. Experts studying the Arctic and Antarctic are expected to receive a funding boost from the International Polar Year. The IPY is an elaborate program that will inject close to $500 million into polar research. Canada is the principal patron of IPY, contributing $150 million US. It is followed by Scandinavian countries and the United States, which made a contribution close $60 million US. Scientists studying the Arctic in the past limited their work to biological, geographical and physical sciences. This year they will examine the impact of climate change on humans. About 150,000 Inuit live in Arctic regions extending across the US state of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, the Scandinavian countries and Russia. This is the fourth IPY to be organized. The three previous ones took place in 1882-83, 1932-33 and 1957-58. This is the first time that it will be carried out against the backdrop of climate change. \

2006

Friday 29 December 2006 ELLESMERE ISLAND: ICE SHELF COLLAPSES
Global warming is being blamed for a dramatic event in Canada's far north in which an ancient ice shelf split away from the mainland to become an island 66-square kilometres in size. The event, which occurred 16-months-ago, triggered deflections on seismographs 250-kilometres away. It's only now been revealed, after scientists had an opportunity to piece together all the related data. No one was present at the time to witness the thunderous cracking, although the rupture was soon spotted by overhead satellites. The 37-metre thick Ayles ice shelf, until recently part of northern Ellesmere Island, is now an island itself, frozen in sea ice some 15-kilometres offshore in the Arctic Ocean.

rci YUKON: HOMICIDE-FREE
Canada's Yukon territory is hoping to be able to celebrate its second year without a single murder. It will, provided nobody is killed between now and midnight on New Year's Eve. There were no murders in 2005 and, so far, none this year. That represents a marked improvement over 2004 when there were seven homicides reported. The RCMP, which polices the northern territory of 31,000 people, believe an ongoing crackdown on illicit drugs may be behind the drop in violent activity.

Agency Proposes to List Polar Bears as Threatened Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne proposed listing polar bears as a “threatened” species.

Many experts on the Arctic say that global warming is causing the ice to melt and that the warming is at least partly the result of the atmospheric buildup of heat-trapping gases from tailpipes and smokestacks. The plight of the polar bear has been held up by environmentalists as a symbol of global warming caused by humans.
But in a conference call with reporters, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said that although his decision to seek protection for polar bears acknowledged the melting of the Arctic ice, his department was not taking a position on why the ice was melting or what to do about it.

TORONTO: POLAR BEARS STILL UNDER THREAT
Canadian environmentalists have reacted with cautious optimism to Washington's announcement that it may soon include polar bears on the list of threatened species. Richard Johnston of the Toronto Zoo applauded the decision, but also pointed out that the measure would not limit the drilling operations that also pose a threat to the bears' survival. Earlier this month, the Canadian branch of the World Wildlife Fund said that five of the world's 19 polar bear populations are now in decline, an increase from one in 2001. Most of the bears in question live in Canada. The environmental organisation warned that "polar bear populations will likely continue to decline, and at a faster rate, unless we take action against global warming." Other environmentalists expressed the hope that the American intentions will spur Canada to act by listing polar bears under Canada's Species at Risk Act. An assessment is currently underway.

Monday 13 November 2006 ARCTIC GLACIER INCOME FUND(AG.UN)$11.55 – SOLID Q3 RESULTS DESPITE WEATHER. RATING: OUTPERFORM. TARGET: $15.50 (WAS $16.00). RISK RATING: LOW. INDUSTRY RATING: MARKET WEIGHT.
Arctic Glacier Income Fund posted record results on the strength of its acquisitions, particularly that of California Ice. Management has executed well. Our near worst-case forecast for revenues and EBITDA were exceeded, which was expected. Revenues were $104.2 million versus our expectations of $94.4 million. EBITDA was $42.3 million versus our expectations of $41.1 million. EBITDA results were dampened by the absence of a hurricane season, cost increases and the sudden cooling end to the summer prior to Labour Day. Management expects positive EBITDA for Q4. This is a positive development and is indicative of the moderating effect of California Ice on seasonality. Management expects the payout ratio to be in the range of 85%. Management expects to recoup increasing costs through regular spring price increases. We believe Arctic Glacier should be among the least taxed of business income trusts come 2011. Still, we have applied an overall effective tax rate of 19% from 2011, applying the proposed 31.5% against all income (U.S. and Canadian) but also assuming a return of capital of 40%. Our new DCF-based valuation for Arctic Glacier is $15.50. With a cash yield of 9.5% and a total potential return of 44%, we rate the units Outperform.

Sat 04/11/2006 OTTAWA: SCIENTISTS SAY CANADA FALLING IN ARCTIC RESEARCHTuesday 31 October 2006 nyt Tropical video
The Times's Andrew C. Revkin discusses several new scientific papers that say the Arctic was possibly far warmer than we thought 55 million years ago. (Produced by Erik Olsen).
Studies Portray Tropical Arctic in Distant Past

Sun 20/08/2006 DUNDAS HARBOUR: CEREMONY SYMBOLIZES CANADA'S SOVEREIGNTY OVER ARCTIC REGION
A symbolic ceremony to assert Canada's sovereignty in the far north took place at one of the most remote parts of the country on the weekend. A group of Canadian soldiers, sailors and air crews gathered along with police officers at Dundas Harbour in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, high above the Arctic Circle. They paid tribute to two police officers who died in the course of duty 80 years earlier while posted at the spot. In a speech at their gravesite, Colonel Chris Whitecross, commander of the military in the north, recalled that the officers were protecting sovereignty, calling them "pioneers of what we're doing." The delegates are taking part in Operation Lancaster, the first naval mission around the Northwest Passage in more than 20 years. Operation Lancaster ends this week in Lancaster Sound, the eastern end of the passage. In a visit to the northern territories this month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper re-asserted Canada's claims to the Northwest Passage and urged other countries to do the same.

Sat 12/08/2006 IQALUIT: CANADA'S PRIME MINISTER DEFENDS SOVEREIGNTY OVER FAR NORTH
Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, says that Canada is prepared to defend what he calls a legal claim to its northern Arctic coast. Mr. Harper spoke on Saturday in the town of Iqaluit, in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, where he paid his first visit since becoming prime minister early this year. The United States and the European Union have declined to recognize Canada's sovereignty in the far north, saying that the Northwest Passage is an international route. Mr. Harper urged them to reconsider their policy. The Northwest Passage could become a summer shipping route as early as ten years from now as a result of global warming that's causing the Arctic ice to melt at a rapid speed. Mr. Harper will travel to the Nunavut town of Alert on Sunday. Later in the week, he'll visit Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, and Whitehorse in the Yukon.

Friday 11 August 2006 rciCanadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is continuing his cross-country tour with a visit to the eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut, where he'll be in its capital, Iqaluit. One of his main topics will be his Conservative Party's campaign promise to build a deep-seat port in the Arctic. One possible site for such a site would be Iqaluit itself. The construction of such a port would facilitate the shipping of food and other supplies and allow cruise ships to dock and unload tourists. The Conservatives are also interested in using a deep-sea port for naval military ships to patrol northern waters, thereby reaffirming Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic. Nations including the U.S. reject Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage. Mr. Harper will also discuss concerns about the effects of melting ice due to global warming, a phenomenon which is having a profound effect on native communities in particular.

Wed 09/08/2006 CALGARY: NASA INTERESTED IN ARCTIC FIND
The Arctic Institute of Calgary, AB, says that the U.S. space agency NASA is interested is the discovery of deposits of sulphur accidentally discovered by its director on Ellesmere Island in the Arctic Ocean. The Institute says the director and his researchers found bacteria living in the ice made yellow by the sulphur living under extreme conditions. The climate of Ellesmere Island resembles that of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. NASA is reported considering an expedition to Ellesmere Island to test equipment which it plans to send on a mission to Europa. [ too bad Pierre Sauvadet has sailed away to England!]

Sunday 06 August 2006 Ontario mine may hold clues to Mars life
Rather than looking into deep space, a University of Toronto professor has taken the search for the secret of alien life to the depths of a Timmins mine. Anna Piekarski reports.

20 June 2006 nyt Video Tropical Arctic The Times's Andrew C. Revkin discusses several new scientific papers that say the Arctic was possibly far warmer than we thought 55 million years ago. (Produced by Erik Olsen)Related Article

Aug. 4, 2006 cbc Northwest Passage The National visits Canada's North As part of their detailed look at Canada’s arctic, The National sent host Peter Mansbridge to the Far North and devoted more than half of last night’s newscast to stories from the region, including two weather-related stories about the Northwest Passage. The first, narrated by Mansbridge himself, serves as an excellent example of meaningful weather journalism. [VHS tape available ]

Mon 10/07/2006 WINNIPEG: DEFENCE MINISTER TO VISIT ARCTIC
Canadian Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor has announced he'll soon visit four towns in Canada's North to study how to fulfil the Conservative Party can fulfil its campaign promises in the region. Mr. O'Connor says he'll visit Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, Iqaluit and Resolute in Nunavut in the eastern Arctic and Goose Bay in Labrador. During the last election campaign, the Conservatives promised to spend $2 billion to assert Canadian sovereignty in the north. The promises aimed at doing so included procurement of three armed heavy icebreakers, unmanned aerial vehicles patrols and an Arctic army training centre, which the minister says could be built near Iqaluit. Mr. O'Connor also says he study the possibility of building a deep-sea port for the navy at Nunavut's capital.

Thursday Jun 1, 2006 Studies Portray Tropical Arctic in Distant Past An analysis suggests that scientists have underestimated the power of greenhouse gases to warm the Arctic. see alsoDavid Wilkins

Saturday May 27, 2006 nyt

Interactive Feature: Hunting Polar Bears Clifford Krauss tracks down a living symbol of humanity's impact on the Arctic wilds. • Related Article

Tuesday May 9, 2006 Arctic spy outpost downsized
The military plans to replace half of its personnel with contract workers at Canadian Forces Station Alert, a secretive spying outpost at the top of the world, by November.

U.S. pushes Arctic oil drilling
It's long past time to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Thursday after meeting with Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn and their Mexican counterpart.

Wednesday Apr 5, 2006 rci Three Canadian military patrols have travelled thousands of kilometres from three different starting points in Canada's remote and rugged Arctic to rendezvous on a small rock in mid-ocean in the northeastern territory of Nunavut. The military says it's the first time such a feat has been achieved. The group will be joined by two other patrols on Wednesday. The purposes of the adventure are to assert Canada's sovereignty over the virtually uninhabited regions of the North and to monitor the state of facilities that have been abandoned but could be put back into service. Experts have predicted that shipping will increase in the Arctic as the phenomenon of global warming melts ice and makes navigation more feasible.

Thursday Mar 30, 2006 rci Some 30 Canadian and Danish scientists will take part in a joint project to draw the boundary between the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut and the Danish province of Greenland. The countries are in disagreement where the border lies. The scientists' chief task will be to chart the location of underground mountain chains to find out whether they connect to Nunavut or Greenland. The two countries will share the $3-million cost of the expedition that starts later this week. The Arctic crust is thought to contain as much as one-fourth of the world's undiscovered reserves of oil and natural gas.

Saturday Mar 18, 2006 nyt Toronto researcher breathes new life into remote Arctic lab
Led by a tireless Toronto professor, a coalition of scientists is creating the world's most advanced lab for atmospheric research in Eureka, Nunavut, writes Peter Calamai.

Fri. Feb. 10 2006 Website lets public track Alaska volcano

Tuesday Feb 28, 2006 ts Too many climbers on McKinley
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—North America's tallest mountain is getting crowded — too crowded for safety.

Wednesday Feb 15, 2006 ccArctic losing its ice
Polar ice melting at a rate of about 74,000 square kilometres a year — an area about the size of Lake Superior — and has been for the last 30 years

Thursday Feb 9, 2006 ts Arctic a constant irritant
In the summer of 1986, an American icebreaker, the Polar Sea, had ventured through the Northwest Passage, a body of water in the High Arctic that Canada regarded as "internal waters." The Americans were equally adamant that it was "high seas" and therefore open to international traffic, particularly U.S. Navy transit. It was well known that U.S., British, and possibly Soviet submarines had used the passage at one time or another.

www.arctic.ucalgary.ca/

Wednesday Feb 1, 2006 maisonneuve.org/
THE THIN RED LINE BETWEEN WAR AND PEACEKEEPING
by Philippe Gohier

At the unveiling of a new command structure for Canada’s armed forces yesterday, our country’s top soldier, General Rick Hillier, offered a warm endorsement of the incoming Tories’ national defence policy and plans to purchase icebreakers for Arctic deployment, to increase troop levels and to offer a substantial increase in defence funding. The Conservatives have pledged to increase the military’s funding to $20 billion, a 25 percent step up from the Liberals’ promise of $16 billion. The new command structure is the latest component of a defence policy Hillier developed with outgoing defence minister Bill Graham, a policy which calls for what the Citizen describes as “robust combat capability and nation building.” The National suggests the move marks a “further shift in emphasis from peacekeeping toward aggressive military operations,” as Canada’s military becomes “more fit to fight.”

Monday Jan 30, 2006 ts Hands off Arctic, Harper tells U.S.
Stephen Harper may want better relations with the U.S., but the incoming PM crisply rebuked the White House's man in Ottawa over comments on Canada's Arctic sovereignty. Sean Gordon reports.

globe Harper rebukes U.S. envoy over Arctic dispute

Ambassador reminded panel that U.S. doesn't recognize Canada's sovereignty

www.flickr.com This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from davidnicholson tagged with TheBoat. Make your own badge here. TheBoat in slides

Pierre Sauvadet

Pierre's Boat slides

Pierre's Boat slides

CANADA’S ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY ON THIN ICE
by Philippe Gohier
January 27, 2006 maisonneuve.org/

Call it the diplomatic polar bear dip. Stephen Harper waded into icy waters yesterday with his unprompted response to US ambassador David Wilkins’s statement that the American government would not recognize Canada’s claims to Arctic waters. Part of the Conservatives’ election platform called for the purchase and deployment of three military ice-breakers to the region to assert Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage which, due to the effects of global warming, could soon be open year-round to vessels. The territorial issue came to light during the campaign after reports surfaced that a US nuclear submarine may have travelled through it without Canadian authorization this past November. Harper was unusually sharp-tongued with his response, saying “It is the Canadian people we get our mandate from, not the ambassador of the United States.” The US embassy then issued its own response, stating that Wilkins was simply restating “the long-standing and well-known position of the United States on the legal status of the Arctic waters.”

CTV News’ Craig Oliver suggested the ambassador’s remark, made while participating in a panel discussion at the University of Western Ontario, was something of “a gift” to the new prime minister and that Harper could use it to dispel the lingering impression that his policies are too closely in line with those of the Bush government. Judging by Harper’s reaction, there is little doubt the prime minister-designate saw it as such. After all, Wilkins had also said that “We have agreed to disagree and there's no reason ... to say, `There's a problem that's occurring and we've got to do something about it,’” dispelling the apparent threat to the territorial integrity of the country. Despite its attempts at framing the issue as a disagreement between it and the Americans, the Canadian government’s control over the potentially lucrative trade route is actually a much larger problem. Should the waters thaw sufficiently enough for shipping vessels to pass through, the Northwest Passage will become of great interest to Asian and European countries as well, since it would provide a quicker route between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans than the Panama Canal currently does. But none of those countries recognize Canadian claims either. The Globe does a commendable job of providing a more global assessment, expanding its analysis beyond the realm of brash, political posturing to consider our capacity to ensure, for example, environmental protection of the Passage should our sovereignty be in question. Mediascout hopes other outlets will follow suit, and recognize its global implications rather than treating it as another hiccup in Canada-US relations.
CTV NEWS: “The Harper Agenda: A blunt message for Canada on far-Northern sovereignty” TORONTO STAR: "Hands off Arctic, Harper tells US”
LA PRESSE: "Stephen Harper puts Americans on notice”
OTTAWA CITIZEN: “‘I’m fine,’ Harper says”

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Hello David,

We arrived La Rochelle, France, 5 days ago. An excellent trip from St John's with a lot of wind and many dolphins. I ordered a fast internet connection for my appartment and should be fully operational next week to help you. Hope all is well in Westmount. I miss your wondeful appartment. I also hope to be able to come back to Montreal. I called the Canadian Ambassy today to see how to start an immigration process.
Kindest regards to Diana,
Pierre Sauvadet www.auroramagnetica.com/

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